1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for producing food, and more particularly to a technique for producing sliced, shredded and/or diced cheese of the pasta filata type. Particularly suited are mozzarella and provolone.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Pasta filata cheeses, such as mozzarella, provolone, or blends thereof, become plastic i.e. moldable and pliable when heated. The plastic nature of pasta filata cheeses is to be distinguished from other types of cheeses such process cheeses that become molten upon heating.
Pasta filata cheese is manufactured by cooking, mixing and stretching a curd of the pasta filata type. The warm plastic curd is then typically molded into a six pound or twenty pound block. The block is then immersed in brine for twenty four hours after which it is removed, wrapped and aged. Aging facilitates a proteolytic process within the cheese that provides desired physical properties such as improving its slicability by mitigating against brittleness. This process typically takes seven to ten days and requires intermediate packaging prior to slicing, shredding and/or dicing to protect the cheese from mold.
At present pasta filata cheeses are typically shredded, diced or sliced for use in foods such as pizza. In order to accomplish this, the cheese blocks must be taken from storage, unwrapped, and then shredded, diced or sliced. Such an operation is labor intensive and requires a completely different line in the manufacturing facility resulting in increased costs of production. Additionally, requiring intermediate storage for the cheese also dictates that the cheese be packaged for storage. Thus, the use of intermediate packaging materials also represents significant lost dollars.
The food industry places a premium on portion control as a means of insuring the use of precise amounts of ingredients. For shredded and diced cheese, either a scale or volume measuring have generally been used for portion control. Slices are a means for providing portion control of cheese on pizzas without using the additional step of weighing. However, to provide such control the block of pasta filata cheese must be trimmed to exact dimensions and then cut to slices of predetermined thickness. As noted above, this results in added labor expense, and additionally creates an enormous amount of trim or waste. To produce a circular slice for pizza also creates large amounts of waste or requires special block molds of a cumbersome nature.
It is thus desirable to provide a technique for continuously producing sliced, shredded and/or diced cheese of exact size and weight.